Feb. 2, 1903. J 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUKIST. 
533 
the tea was weaker, the lumps of sugar larger, 
the teapot always had a silver strainer haiit;- 
ing from its spout to hokl back the leaves, and 
instead of eating the cakes dry many of the people 
preferred to tremper them— that is to say, dip 
ihern in their tea and eat iheni soaked with 
that beverage. When visitors came to call, tea 
was immediately ofTered, as it is in Russia. Uiilil 
lately Russia was the only country which ran us 
anywhere close in the matier of afternoon tea ; 
bub then in Russia tea is going on all day Ion:-, 
and the samovar is in constant requisition. In 
Russia, however, the tea is served in tumblers with- 
out milk, a piece of lemon being added to bring out 
the flxvour. Russian tea is exceilent ; but then 
the very tinest China tea goes to Russia, where the 
colour and the aroma are as much considered as 
these qualiiiea are by a connoisseur of good wine. 
PARIS HAS NOT COPIED THU RUSSIAN WAY OF 
DRINKING TEA, 
but has adopted our thorouglily British institution 
and mode of enjoying that beverage at live o'clock 
and at live o'clock every afternoon tiie smart folk 
of the city may be seen enjoying their tea as to 
the manner born. Paris has been besieged, and 
Las capil>»la(ed in favour of afternoon tea." 
Mrs. Tweedie's inquiry whether the tea-drinking 
habit of the Parisian is the outcome of the exhi- 
bition of 1900 has brought a reply from Mr Edward 
F Langda'e, one of the tea representatives at the 
exhibition. He says : — " Most assuredly ye'j. And 1 
hope that by virtue of the office I held at the ex- 
hibition I may claim to give my opinion so de- 
cidedly. Acting under the infiuential auspices of 
their respective tea associations, and by the autho- 
rity of the Indian and (Jeylon Committee of the 
Royal Commission, Paris Exhibition, 1900, the 
representatives of the tea interests of India and 
Ceylon were able to do good work at the exhibition 
itself, and, what is more important, to lay the 
foundation in Paris of a trade or business which 
is, I believe, becoming the permanent one of which 
Mrs Alec Tweedie has now so agreeably treated, 
Tea interests, generally, are now in such a pre- 
carious state tliat all who are closely concerned 
%vith them are naturally grateful when the 
Press gives its powerful aid to find fresh outlets 
for the present over-production of tei. The 
following ^'^ess notice was written in 1900, and 
the opinions therein expressed are, I think, now 
being verified : — 
" Nothing of this kind has ever been done 
before in Paris, or has succeeded so well. The 
attempt to sell tea to the public at previous 
exhibitions has usually ended in disappointment. 
The object of the association, to popularise tea, 
is evidently been attained; the tea has become 
opular, and a nucleus has now been forrr.ed for a 
usiness which should be continued after the exhi- 
bition is at an end.' 
" Mrs Tweedie also asks if the ' craze ' is the 
result of any British invasion of the exhibition ? 
"I do not think so, for my own experience, 
so far as regards the Indian tea courts, was 
that our fellow-countrymen were more conspi- 
cuous by their absence than by their pre- 
sence. The tea courts were the resort daily of 
some of the best French society, members of 
which were known to say that the Indian tea 
courts were the most chic of any in the exhibi- 
tion, and that the Grand Prix should have been 
awarded for the manner in which the tea was 
served as well a» for the goodness of the tea itself. 
•'^5 a further proof that the 
TASTE FOR TEA IN FRANCE 
became more general at the time of the exhibi- 
tion, many people particularly those from the 
provinces bought small packets of tea to take 
home with them. These sales direct to the 
public were most cncourHging lor I he prospects of 
tea, for they showed the desire of the purchasers to 
try and cultivate a taste for it. Also, they showed 
visitors to the exhibition that good tea is obtainal)le 
at as low a pi ice as from 3 to 4 francs a pound 
instead of at such a prohibitive one as from 8 to 
12 francs, which I often saw marked up in the 
shops in Paris. 
" By the enterprise of India and Ceylon, parti- 
cularly of Ceylon, tea is now often obtainable in 
the cnp at many of the cafes, but the knowledge 
how to make it properly has yet to be g-iined. 
There are also depots and tea-rooms, run mostly 
by English people. One, very tastefully decorated, 
is an offshoot of the exhibition, and is situated 
nearly opposite the British Embassy, Ihe pro- 
prietor is a French gentletnan who evide' tly 
believes in the ultimate success of tea drinking 
in France. If only tea-rooms after th-^ kind of 
those of our Aerated Bread Company's shops could 
be dotted about Paris, the middle classes would 
probably be secured and then, in course of time, 
the masses, who are as yet much averse from tea, 
and treat it as medicine. There is, however, 
ONE DANGER AHEAD 
which cannot be ignored — that is, that the French 
Government might increase the Customs duty, still 
as high, I believe, as I franc 25 cents per pound, 
and thus blight the hopes of importers of tea into 
France. Their hopes must rest on the Chambers 
of Commerce of France and England, between 
which two bodies there is evidently an excellent 
good feeling and understanding. At the time of 
the exhibition there was some talk of the duty on 
tea being increased. ' Hinc illse lachrymaj !" 
Another correspondent writes :— " It is not in 
Paris that a taste for tea is spreading. A 
week or two ago I happened to be in Rheims, 
and noticed that there was quite as much tea 
as coffee exposed to view in the grocers' windows. 
Bat, in provincial France, at least, there is still 
evidently a 
PREJUDICE AGAINST TEA GROWN IN THE 
BRITISH DOMINIONS. 
I am not enough of an expert in tea to tell from 
its appearance where it is grown. But perhaps 
you will allow me to quote some of the labels 
under which tea is sold in Rheims — a town, it 
shoul'l be remembered, which has a large English 
population. One sample W!is thus described. 
' The de rile Bourbon. Ce the par son arome et 
sa finesse est sans riv.il, ayant le gout du thi 
anglais de Ceylon, il lui est supdrieur. (The 
italics are in the original). Another sort is ' Th«3 
d'Annam grosses f uillcs fort en the ne. Se re 
comniande pour boissons hygiiniques.' A third 
variety is described as ' Royal Souchong. — Th6 
noir, tres digestif.' 
"It is quite possible that all three are Indian 
or Cing;ilese blends masquerading under popular 
titles. May I, as an Anglo-Indian not in any way 
interested in the tea trade, suggests to Mr 
Langdale that Rheims, an important town in which 
Engli-limen are already strongly represented in 
the cloth and champagne trade, might be a good 
scer.e for a crusade in support of Indian tea i 
The 'tea-habit' is already formed, but the 
Reimois is educated to believe that tea grown 
French colonies issuperior to the product of our 
